Бри Деспейн - The Lost Saint

“I say this calls for a celebration,” he said to the boys. “Let’s all go to the club.”

“But you never let us go,” the youngest boy said, his voice cracking with puberty. He indicated himself and the three next smallest of the boys.

“Well, then, today’s your lucky day, Ryan. We’re all leaving for a while.” He glanced at me for the first time since we left Rose Crest. His eyes were void of emotion. “We have to make sure there’s ample opportunity.”

Ample opportunity? For what?

Talbot looked at Jude. “What are you waiting for, boy? You heard the Father. Take her to the room.”

Jude snatched me up in his arms and carried me toward a door marked BREAK ROOM. It must have been a sign left over from when this was an actual warehouse. I thought about struggling, trying to break free of his arms. But where would I go? How could I even run with the cording on my feet? Besides, if I struggled, then they would send someone to help Jude. And that meant I wouldn’t have a chance to talk to him alone.

A table and chairs and an old green refrigerator populated the room. From the smell leaking out from the fridge door, I assumed it was packed with takeout boxes and at least a dozen half-eaten pizzas.

Jude dumped me in a chair. He grabbed a coil of rope off the table and started tying me up. I stared at the crown of his dark brown hair as he wrapped the rope around my middle.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

Jude didn’t answer. He pulled the ropes tighter. I winced.

“Then help me at least understand,” I pleaded. “Why would you call and try to warn me about the Shadow Kings if you were working for them all along?”

Jude looked up at me. His eyebrows furrowed with confusion. “What are you talking about? I didn’t call you.”

“Yes, you did. I’d know your voice anywhere.”

Jude shook his head and went back to securing the ropes to the chair.

How can he not remember this?

“You were worried about me. You called me on Daniel’s phone from inside his apartment. You said someone was coming for me. You even tried to warn me about Talbot—only I didn’t know that’s who you were talking about. You said the exact same thing you said in the parking lot behind the hardware store. That he makes you think you can trust him, but you can’t.”

“Shut up,” Jude said. “I didn’t call you. Stop trying to confuse me.”

“You did call. Which means deep down inside, you still care. My brother’s in there somewhere.”

“I said, shut up!” Jude raised his hand like he wanted to strike my face. “I would never call to warn you.”

“But you did. The night the gang trashed Day’s Market. I bet you snuck away just so you could find me.” I took a breath. “And you texted April on

Monday. And you’ve even left comments on her blog. Don’t you remember that?”

Jude lowered his hand and glanced at my face. A slight look of recognition flashed over his eyes. He shook his head and backed away toward the door. “Be sure to yell real loud if you hear someone coming.” He thumbed in the direction of the cracked window. “Wouldn’t want Daniel to miss you after all this trouble.”

He smirked and closed the break-room door behind him as he left.

This was a trap!

A trap to catch Daniel.

They were counting on his finding me. Hoping he’d follow their trail here. They left the warehouse to make it look like they weren’t watching, and now they wanted me to scream for help.

But how were they so sure Daniel would come?

I hadn’t seen him in days. I didn’t even know if he wanted anything to do with me anymore. Would he even come if he found out I was in trouble?

Simultaneously, my heart filled with hope and dread.

Yes, if Daniel is the person I know him to be—he’ll come for me no matter what.

LATER

I rocked back and forth in my chair, trying to loosen my bonds. I needed to get out of here on my own before Daniel found me. Find him before he even got near this place. Now if only I had Baby James’s talent for pulling a Houdini out of his booster-seat restraints. That thought made my heart heavy. What if I never saw my family again?

My muscles tensed and ached, bidding me to use my abilities. But I didn’t trust my powers anymore. I didn’t trust myself. What if I gave the wolf too much leeway again and it completely took over?

But getting out of here before they trapped Daniel was more important. I had to take the risk.

I concentrated on the slight, warm pulse of my moonstone necklace against my chest and siphoned a small amount of power into my arms. I struggled harder against my bonds. The ropes burned my skin, but I didn’t have time to devote any power or self-control to healing the tender wounds.

The cording around my arms must have been lined with some kind of metal, because they barely loosened in response to my struggles. If only I could break free of that, the ropes binding me to the chair would be no problem at all. I rocked too hard, and the chair fell backward. It slammed into the ground, and I smacked my head on the concrete—which only made my splitting headache worse—and pinned my arms behind me with my own weight. I used my momentum to turn the chair, and myself, to the side. But now one of my shoulders was pinned; the weight of the chair and my body dug into it with aching force.

The whole situation seemed utterly hopeless, but I didn’t stop.

What felt like an hour passed, but for all I really knew, it could have been only a few minutes. The warehouse was still empty—at least from what I could hear. The noises out on the street grew quieter as the night got darker. I had no more feeling in my trapped arm, and I didn’t know how much longer I could go before I had no feeling left inside of me at all.

A few more minutes passed, and then I heard the break-room door creak open. I lolled my head in the direction of the noise, expecting to find

Jude or Talbot checking on me, but I watched with shock as two people crept into the room. One man was dressed in a brown hooded robe—and the other was Daniel.

“Gracie,” he said, and rushed over to me as quietly as he could.

“Run!” I whispered. “It’s a trap. Get out of here!”

“I know. You were too easy to find. But we still have to try.” He pulled my chair upright and tugged at the ropes, but they didn’t budge.

The man in the hooded robe riffled through the drawers in the counter. He pulled out a serrated knife and approached us. He pushed the hood of his robe off his head and handed the knife to Daniel.

“Gabriel?” I looked at Daniel as he went to work cutting the ropes from the chair. “What the heck is he doing here?” Not that I was ungrateful for his assistance—just surprised, considering our history.

“Gabriel is the one who followed you here.”

“Your mother got concerned when she couldn’t find you at the festival,” Gabriel said as he worked on unwinding the cording that bound my ankles.

“Then your sister said she saw you leave Main Street with a boy. I found your basket in the parking lot behind the hardware store and then followed the trail here. I called Daniel as soon as I could.”

“Luckily, I was already on my way home,” Daniel said. “I wasn’t too far from the city.” He cut through the last rope and pulled me out of the chair.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” I asked.

“No.” He brushed a curling strand of my hair off my face. “But I’ve found what I need.”

I got lost in his deep, dark eyes for a moment.

“We should go,” Gabriel said.

“Right.” Daniel pulled the cording from my wrists and then locked hands with me. “Stay as close to me as you can. We came in through an entrance in The Depot. There’s an underground corridor linking these two buildings together.”